Magneto-resistive (XMR) sensors are employed in a wide range of technological applications including automotive, industrial and consumer applications. XMR sensors can be used in sensors, such as proximity sensors, motion sensors, position sensors, speed sensors and angular sensors. These applications need sensors that are accurate, where accuracy requirements continue to increase for sensors such as angular sensors. XMR sensor elements include elements, such as anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) sensor elements, giant magneto-resistive (GMR) sensor elements and tunneling magneto-resistive (TMR) sensor elements.
Typically, an XMR sensor element is arranged in a long meandering stripe of sensor material to obtain an electrical resistance that is suitable for signal processing. Manufacturers try to keep the XMR sensor area on an integrated circuit as small as possible to lower costs and improve performance. Often, the width of a XMR sensor stripe is minimized or reduced to realize a certain resistance in a given area. However, reducing the width of an XMR sensor stripe reduces the accuracy of the XMR sensor, including the angular accuracy of the XMR sensor.